Brake-valve-controlling device for vehicles.



I. T. JONES.

BRAKE VALVE CONTROLLING DEVICE FOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED 13110.27, 1912.

Patented Sept. 1, 1914.

rut Rbimll Flu-R's co; rnomurna. WAININGNN- o. c.

ritAivKT. ones, on Business, MARYLANII), Assie von Towns Jones sAFEr TRAIN CONTROL sYs'i EM- GQM-PAN QO BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, A oo'R'PoRA-T "men or MARYLAND.

If BRAKE VALVECoirrnotnrne nnvrcn Eon VEHICLES.

I p ns men; Patented Sept. 1, 1914. hpplicationfiled.December27,19 12.'Seria1No.7,38,783.I f

ToaZZ whom it mag concern: 5 e Be it known that I, FRANK T.-JoNns,a

' citizen'of the United States, residing at Baltimore,,in the State of Maryland, 'haveinvented certain new, and useful Improvements invBrake-Valve-Gontrolling Devices for Vehicles, of which the following is a specifica-ftion. Y A i .t

This invention relates to abrake valve controlling device for veh cles and has particular reference toan improved contact" shoe and immediately associated devices to be actuated by the shoe engagingor "disengagingaramp rail.

The present inventioniis designed for use in an automatic train-controlling system such as shown and described in Letters Patent of, the United States Number 1,010,371

granted November 28th, 1911 to 'R. Tand F. T. Jones wherein theroadway is provided atv intervals with short or ramp rails with which the contact shoe engages during its'passage, by which engagement in case;

conditions on the road ahead are safe, 'a temporary or substitutecurrent is picked up to momentarily naintain'the'valve 'controL ling appar'atuson thevehiele in anormal safe condition whilethe normal circuit' 'on the vehicle isinterruptedby the movement imparted to the shoe by the said ramp rails.

The invention-is illustrated the accompanying drawing, wherein, v

Figure 1, showsa sideeleyation of a por tion of a vehicle'truck on which' thefi im' proved shoe and switch devices are carried Referring to the drawing by numerals, 1, designates thetruck frameof the vehicle 2, thenaxle, and, '3, one of the wheels; Supports,: l-, arec'arried by the frame and sus-t tan a horizontal bracket, 5, on top of'which a switchbox, 6, is rigidlyisecured. The con-i structioni-and operation ofthe switch mech anism the box, 6,-will hereinafter be explained.

- 13A bracketviplate, 7 ,is rigidly sustained b-- neath; the bracket, 5, and said @plate' has ewe spaced-apart downwardly" extending-(arms, 8.' To the arms,8, the shoe, 9, is pivotal-lyycon nected. This shoe has substantially a" U shape, being vprovided.- WI 1th the Lspa'c'ed-Q apart side qbars, (10, and a cross-bar, 11

which connects theside bar's. ,The]cross-bar, 11, serves as the current collectorin that it extends crosswise "of the ramp. rails over wh1ch;1t passes and completes a substitute circuit only during its Contact with the ramp rails and then only in :case the road ahead is clear. Theends, 12, of the side bars 'of the, shoe arefpivotall'y connected w th the{ spaced-apart arms, 8,, of the bracket-plate, 7, by means of bolts,13, and,

to avoid the necessity ofdrawing these bolts tight to maintain anielectrical connection between at least one end of said ends and the arms, 8, Iihave formeda shoulder, 14,

on the jbjolts so'thatthe bars, 10, may be rig-r larger portion of the bolt to extend freely throughthe arm, 8., A spring, 16 is then interposed between the rigid head on one "of the bolts and one arm, 8, so that an elec-' 1 t'rical connection 7 may be maintained" from the arm,f8, through the spring to the bolt and: from thelatter to the bar, 10. In practice, the cross-bar, 11, ofgthe shoeitrails at the rear of the depending arms, 8, so that in i Fig. 1 of thedrawing the shoe is, shown as,

leavin'g the ramp rail, 16. It willsthus b'e 5 imderstood that the cross-bar, 11,:is locatedatthefree-end of the shoe because} it is that endi which is raised and lowered iuponpass ing, ontozand fro'mthe'ramp' rail; The free s end ,of the shoe is therefore utilized to actuate a switch mechanism as will now'be 'de ISQribedL A v i Ajllllk rod,'17,- has itslowen end pivotally, attached to the free end .of "the shoe by means of a bolt,'*18, and a spring,19, on the bolt serves as anadditionalmeansto insure Ian electricahconnection between the shoe and the rod by seating'the clip part of'the rodzagainst the shoe.yThe upper endof the link rod, 17 ,ex'tends-above the bracket, 5, e and is secured'in' a coupling head; 20, which latter normallyrests on a plate, f 21,011 the upper side of the bracket. 'A spring, 22, is coiled around the link rod, 17, and issufliciently compressed norma'lly'to keep the rod and freeend ofthe shoe depressed; A shaft, '23, extends horizontally in the switchbox, 6, and one end of this shaft exitends through: an opening in the sidewall i of-thezbox so thatfone endiof acrank-arm, 24,

70 I idly securedonthe bolts against said shoul-' Y may beattached thereto. The other end of: said crank arm extends toward and is pivotally connected to the head, 20, on the upper end of the link rod, 17 ,so that whentheshoe is moved vertically the shaft, 23, will be given a partial rotation. On the interiorof the switch box the shaft, 23, carries a switch arm, 25, whose free'endis provided with a block of insulation, 26, to prevent the passage of a current therethrough. A- binding post, 27, and a contact block, 28, are also provided in the switch box, 6, and the post, 27 is provided with a'switch plate, 29, which carries a roller, 30, so that the latter will lie in the path of the insulation block, 26, on the switch arm, 25. Theuswitch plate has a free end, 31, which normally makes contact with the block, 28, by reason of the fact that undernormal running condition and while the shoe is in the lowered position the arm,- 25, presses the roller, 30, and switch plate, 29, in a direction toward the contact block, 28, so thatthe free end, 31, of said plate makes contact with the saidblock, 28,,and closes a' circuit betweenpost, :27, and block, 28. A bond or wire, 32, extends from the post, 27 down to one'of the hrms, 8, of the bracket plate, 7, so as to electrically connect said post and bracket plate.

The purpose of the post, 27, contact- 28,

and switch plate, 29, are to maintain a circuit on the vehicle while the latter is traveling from one ramp rail to another along the road and by means of thiscir'cuit to hold an air-brake valve normally in an inoperated condition; The mechanism for effecting this is in the present instance precisely the same as that disclosed in said Patent 1,010,371, hereinbefore referredto and consists of a valve device, 33, interposed in a pipe of the air-brake system so as not tointerfere with the ordinary manipulationsof the air-brake system, said valve having a weighted arm, 34, and a trip-arm, 35. The trip-arm is normally engaged by an arma ture, 36, of an electro-magnet, 37, and said armature is maintained in position to hold the trip arm so long as the electro-magnet is kept energized.

A battery, 38, is provided on the vehicle and the circuit for normally energizing the electro-magnet is as follows:. from battery,

38, by wire, 39, to electro-magnet, 37, then:

by wire, 40, to shaft, 23,"in'the switch box,

6; then crank, 24, head, 20,link rod, 17, and

shoe, 9, to arms, 8; then by bond or wire, 32,

' to post, 27, switch plate 29, and block, 28,

and finally by wire, 41 back to battery; It

will thus be seen that as long as. switch= plate, 29, is pushed by arm, 25, to close the Circuit between post, 27, and block, 28, the

" circuit from battery, 38, on the vehicleto the electro-magnet, 37-, and return will be completed and under such conditions the air brake valve will: be :h'elcl. in the inope're l pid-3 71 h ereinbefore referred as r atedposition. It will also be seen that by including theshoe in this normal circuit in such a way that the current must pass from. one end of the shoe to the other to'normally prevent the deene'rgization' of vehicle 1nagnet, 37, the shoe must be in operative condition or the normal circuit would be inter rupted. Therefore if the shoe should break, the normal circuit would be interrupted causing an application of the brakes.

By referring to Fig. 2, of the drawing it will beseen that duringthe travel of the vehicle the shoe will be presented to the successive ramp rails in such a way that the two downwardly-extending.arms, 8, which depend fro-m the bracket, 5, will straddle the ramp rails, '16, and the trailing cross bar, 11, of the shoe will wipe over the top surface of said ramp rail and will be moved because of the inclined surfaces, 42, which are provided at each end of every ramp rail.

This upward movement of the shoe upon passing onto a ramp rail will cause bar, 17, andthe free end of crank, 24, to also rise, and shaft, 23, will be turned so as to swing the free end of switch-arm, 25,- downwardly thereby removing the forward pressure on the roller,f30, and allowing switch plate, 29, to spring rearwardly, as shown in broken lines in Fig. 1, so as tobreak contact with block, 28, and thus interrupt the normal vehicle circuit between battery, 38, and electro-magnet, 37. In this manner theelectrof ,magnet, 37, would bedenergized and the air-brake valve, 33, released so asto'vent the train line and effect an application of the brakes, provided some. other circuit is not in the meantime substituted through the said electrdmagnet;

Thesystem with which the present 111-;

vention is designed to cooperate provides a substitute circuit for the electro-magnet, 37, on the vehicle while the shoe is traveling over a ramp rail in case the track ahead is clear but fails to supply this substitute cir'' cuit if the track ahead isoccupied or a dangerous condition is present somewhere ahead This substitute circuit, during periods of safety is provided from a track or roadway battery, 43, from one sideof which awire, 44, leads to and connects ramp rail,

.16. A wire 45, leads from the other side ofthe track battery, 43, and connects with an armature, 46, of an electro-magnet, 47. As long as this armature-46, is attracted by the electromagnet, 47, it "will 1 be held in contact with a plate, 48,

which latter is connected by a wire, 49,

with one of the rails, 50, on which the ve- "Energization l of in case the latter is From the foregoing explanation it will be understood that when the shoe, 9, on the vehicle passes up the inclined end of a pramp rail it not only breaksthe normal vehicle circuit from vehicle battery, 38,

through vehicle magnet, 37, but if the track ahead is clear it simultaneously completes a substitute circuit fro m track battery, 43, by Wire, 44, ramp rail, 16, bar, 11, link bar,

17, head, 20, crank, 24, to shaft, 23, in the switch box; then bywire, 40, to vehicle mags net, 37 to substitute the track-battery curj I rent and keep said vehicle magnet energized so as to prevent air-brake valve, 33, from actuating. The return of this substitute current is effected by wire, 39, to wire, 52,

This substitute circuit .is only mantained while the shoe is passing over the ramp rail and isbroken as. the shoe lowers when leaving the inclinedsurface, 42, at the opposite, end of the"*ram rail,

whereupon the normal vehicle oircult will be reestablished. I v I 7 Obviously if a dangerous condition exists in the track ahead and track magnet, 47, is deenergized, the current, from the track battery, '43, cannot pass from wire,

45, to contact, 48, because armature, 46, will havedropped from the contact, 48, consequently the ramp rail will be electrically disconnected from track battery, 43, and

cannot supply the substitute current to the vehicle magnet, 37, and the latter will be come. deenergized and allow the air-brake.

valve to operate to set the brakes.

Having thus described myinvention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A contact shoefor engaging ramp rails in safety appliances for vehicles comprising two spaced-apart side bars to extend in vertical planes along the opposite sides of a ramp rail with means for pivotally sustaining said bars at one end and said shoe having a cross-bar connecting said spaced side bars whereby said cross-bar may engage the contact surface of the ramp rails and be moved vertically thereby. 1

2. In a train controlling valve device for vehicles the combination with a controlling valve on the vehicle, of electrically-controlled means on the vehicle for normally holding the valve in one position; a contact shoe engaging ramp rails along the road,said shoe comprising two spacedapart side bars to extend in vertical planes along opposite sides of the ramp rail said shoe being pivoted at one end andhaving a cross-bar extending crosswise of and connecting'said spaced side bars whereby said cross-bar will extend crosswise of the rampv rail to engage the contactsurface of said rail and be moved vertically thereby; means for electrically connecting the free, cross-.

bar end of the shoe with one side of the electrically-controlled means that holds the valve and means for connecting the pivoted end of at least one side bar of the shoe with the other side of the said electrically-con- I trolled means one of said electric connections including a battery whereby a normal circuit will be formedthrough the electrically-controlled means said circuit including thepivoted and the free ends of the shoe while the shoe is traveling between ramp rails. In testimony "ture in presence of whereof I afiix my signatwo witnesses. I FRANK T. J ONES.

-Witnesses:

G. FERD. Voe'r, CHARLES E. MANN,

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents 'eaoh, by addressing the Commissioner oflatents, I

, t Washington, D. 0. a 

